Providing you with selected content from the Pinewood Derby Times Newsletter, and other writings.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

PINEWOOD DERBY CAR SHOWCASE

After reading the article on nice paint jobs, you might enjoy these
cars from Jack Walter. He has a different way of painting, but I'm
sure there are many ways to successfully paint a car.

Mom's Car

I enjoyed reading the article Height of Weight Versus Performance - Volume 13, Issue 9. Being a mechanical engineer with a tendency of OCD on math, the results of your experiment are to a degree surprising. Attached is a picture of Mom's car that we built specifically to answer the height/weight performance question. Will it work? We are not exactly sure, but at least Mom will have her own ride to jump and shout about.

Three more beautiful paint jobs-these cars are owned by Justin, JT, and Jack.

Here is Jack's recipe for a great paint job:

Creating an incredible paint job starts with the wood. We cut the body with a band saw and shape with a band sander with 60 grit. From there we start with 100 grit and gradually work to 1000 grit. Yes
100-200-400-800 to 1000 grit. Take your time. This seem to be the best way to prepare the car for paint.

Painting can be done with a low cost airbrush from Harbor Freight. We apply primer coats, base coats and clear coats. We do add metallic into the clear coat to get the color shifting effects and sparkle. It
can not be stressed enough: too much paint can ruin all your work. Fog (light coat) the paint on, take a break and come back to fog it on again.

Voila, you have a show quality car! By painting both the top and bottom of the car we eliminate the effect of humidity absorbing into the wood.

A hint on the airbrush: we always have a practice box sitting by the car to paint on. This gives you a chance to practice and play. Remember, when actually painting the car just apply a fog coat of each color. Take your time, less paint is best, Good LUCK!!